1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to technology for managing various types of resource objects treated in computer systems, and in particular, to a technology for managing the state of access to each resource object by a user. Specifically, the present invention relates to an access-state managing technology for enabling the user to visually recognize the state of user""s access to each resource object on the desktop screen of the computer, and more specifically to an access-state management technology for enabling the user to visually recognize the states of referring to and updating of each resource object by the user. In this Specification, the word xe2x80x9caccessxe2x80x9d includes the meanings of the words xe2x80x9creferencexe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cmodificationxe2x80x9d.
2. Description of the Related Art
With recent rapid progress in the field of information technology, various general-purpose computer systems such as workstations and personal computers have been developed and produced, and have come into wide use in company offices, ordinary homes, and research organizations like universities.
In this type of computer system, in addition to text-format document files, various resource objects such as sounds and images are digitized and converted into predetermined file formats, whereby the resource objects can be uniformly treated.
In most cases, recent general-purpose computer systems have a bitmap display function (i.e., the function of rendering a display image in units of pixels) as a result of an increase in processor performance and an enhanced video subsystem. Also, it is commonly known to build into an operating system (OS) a graphical user interface (GUI) of a graphic-based type instead of a character-based DOS screen, that is, a character user interface (CUI), which supports a bitmap display format.
Under the GUI environment, desktop images simulating the computer system and a plurality of icons are displayed on a display screen.
The word xe2x80x9cdesktopxe2x80x9d means a screen on which the user performs operations, and means a background on which display objects such as icons and windows are positioned.
Each xe2x80x9ciconxe2x80x9d is a small image indicating a resource object usable in the computer system, and is displayed on the desktop or in a window on the desktop. The icons are symbols embodying resource objects on the desktop, such as applications, disk drives, folders (directories), and files.
Each xe2x80x9cwindowxe2x80x9d is a frame displayed on the desktop in order to display resource objects. Windows are standardized in the computer industry, and basically consist of a window title bar and window borders. The title bar is a section for displaying the title of a corresponding window. The title enables identification of information displayed in the present window, that is, a resource object entity.
On the desktop provided by the above-described GUI, all the resource objects treated in the computer system are represented as icons. Processes on each resource object are embodied by intuitive operations using a mouse, such as clicking, dragging, and dropping.
By way of example, on a desktop screen provided by an OS such as Windows 95/98, or in the xe2x80x9cExplorerxe2x80x9d window opened on this desktop, icons symbolizing processible files and folders, and applications are displayed.
With recent improvements in information communications technology, xe2x80x9cnetwork computingxe2x80x9d has rapidly come into wide use. In network computing, by using a network to link together a plurality of computer systems, resource objects possessed by each computer system, such as files, can be efficiently and flexibly managed. In other words, on the network, operations such as sharing and transferring a file among the systems are easily realized.
The xe2x80x9cnetworkxe2x80x9d means a communications network for transferring data between computers, and there are various types from a local area network (LAN) to the Internet, which is a large worldwide network formed by linking servers together. In particular, the use of the Internet is rapidly increasing, and there is remarkable progress in the development of Internet-related technology.
On the Internet, various resource-providing services or the World Wide Web (WWW) are open to the public. The WWW is a wide-area information retrieving service that provides a resource space having a hyperlink structure formed by links among resource objects described in the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) format. The WWW consists of WWW servers that provide resource objects and WWW clients that request provision of the resource objects. Between each server and its client, resource accessing is performed in accordance with the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), as is widely known.
Each WWW server actually includes a general-purpose computer system that executes server applications. Each WWW client actually includes a general-purpose computer system in which a xe2x80x9cuser agentxe2x80x9d (called a xe2x80x9cWWW browserxe2x80x9d) performing resource accessing instead of the user is activated.
Each resource object in the WWW resource space is specified by a unique object identifier described in a form called a xe2x80x9cuniform resource locator (URL)xe2x80x9d. At the WWW client, by using keys to input the character string of a URL designating the desired resource into the location box of the WWW browser screen, accessing of the resource object is requested. Also, by using a user interface operation such as using a mouse to click an anchor in which the URL of a link destination in a WWW page is embedded, accessing of the resource object can be requested. In other words, the WWW browser is provided with an advanced GUI, and the user can freely browse a plurality of WWW pages, just by only an intuitive operation such as clicking the anchor, as is widely known.
The anchor on the WWW page screen is, for example, a character string or icon displayed in the form of a hot spot.
In the world of computers and the Internet, data on a frequency that each resource object is used, such as an access history, is an important key for managing the resource space. The access history is varying time-series data.
For example, data or files having a low frequency of use imply that they have low value and low importance, and there may be a case where they are useless and only consume storage space on a hard disk. When a file having a large storage size, such as graphical data and a large application, has a low frequency of use, an excessive load is imposed on the hard disk. In addition, among files shared via a network, files which have been used a small number of times imply that the files are unnecessary since persons who share the files have small interest in the files. Files having a low frequency of use are not worth accessing, and they can be compressed, archived, or abandoned.
Conversely, data and files having a high frequency of use imply that they have a high value and high importance. Among the files shared via the network, files which have been accessed a large number of times imply that contents stored in the files are meaningful, and this implication can be used as a key for other users to retrieve information. If the data and files having a high frequency of use are archived or abandoned, an excessive recovery effort is required.
By way of example, when a resource object is a xe2x80x9cdocumentxe2x80x9d or a xe2x80x9cbookxe2x80x9d in the real world, its use naturally leaves marks of having been used, and the marks indicate the frequency of use. A useful book that is often referred to is xe2x80x9cdirtyxe2x80x9d, and pages that are often opened have marks by being folded. These marks are important keys for selecting among documents and books.
Even when a resource object is a virtual xe2x80x9cdocumentxe2x80x9d file existing in the world of computers, an access history is an important key for selecting among documents.
On this type of virtual document file, marks of use are usually not left. For example, on the desktop screen provided by an OS such as Windows 95/98, new files, old files, frequently updated files, and files that are only referred to without being updated are displayed as uniform icons. The images of the icons differ from one another. This enables each file to be identified (i.e., each icon itself a substitute of each file), and the state of access to each file. In short, on the desktop screen, the state of access to each file cannot be recognized at a glance.
On the WWW browser screen, resource objects provided in the WWW resource space, in other words, a WWW page, is displayed, and information of a link to another WWW page appears in the form of an anchor, as described above. This anchor is displayed in the form of a hot spot so as to be distinguished from other display objects including no link information. In addition, by displaying an anchor that has been once traced in a color different from the colors of other anchors, visual recognizability of the access history is enhanced.
By considering the above-described color differentiation of the anchors, the WWW user can visually recognize, to some extent, new WWW pages and frequently accessed WWW pages. Nevertheless, other WWW users who exist in the WWW resource space cannot use the anchor color differentiation since the anchor color differentiation is dependent on data recorded on a local file of the WWW user. Also, in the present circumstances, more detailed information, such as the recent frequency that a specific WWW page has been accessed and updated, is almost never provided.
Some WWW pages have an access counter, as is generally known. The access counter is incremented by one whenever the WWW page is accessed. Seeing the value of the access counter enables, to some extent, a grasp of the state of access to the WWW page. However, a management method using the access counter has the following problems.
(1) The counter value is a cumulative number of times accessing is performed, which is reckoned from a specific date, and access patterns (access frequencies by day, time, etc.) cannot be indicated.
(2) Each WWW page has a count start date. Simply seeing the counter value cannot allow a user to grasp an actual number of times accessing is performed. In other words, the user cannot have an intuitive understanding at a glance since the user must take the date for reckoning into consideration.
(3) The access counter is included in the WWW page. Before accessing the WWW page, that is, tracing a link, the user cannot recognize the counter value. Accordingly, WWW navigation cannot be provided in which, from among a plurality of links, the one which has been recently updated often is first traced.
In the Internet industry, when a new anchor is added to the WWW page, it is the custom to provide the anchor with an icon indicating xe2x80x9cnewxe2x80x9d (hereinafter referred to as a xe2x80x9cnew iconxe2x80x9d) or the like. In this case, a time reference to show when the anchor was xe2x80x9cnewxe2x80x9d is unclear (the reference differs depending on determination by each WWW creator), and there is a slight lack of reliability. Also, when it is necessary to know not the updating of the WWW page but an access frequency, the xe2x80x9cnewxe2x80x9d icon is useless.
Accordingly, in view of the foregoing problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an access-state management technology in which the state of access to each resource object by a user is easily and intuitively visually recognized on the desktop screen of a computer.
In addition, it is another object of the present invention to provide an access-state management technology in which the state of referring to each resource object by a user and the state of updating each resource object, which are set to be separate, are easily and intuitively visually recognized on the desktop screen of a computer.
To these ends, according to a first aspect of the present invention, the foregoing objects are achieved through provision of an access-history indicating method for indicating a history of access to a resource object on a computer screen. The access-history indicating method includes the steps of (a) sequentially recording the history of access to the resource object, (b) generating an access history icon time-sequentially representing the history of access to the resource object, and (c) displaying, on the computer screen, the generated history information so as to be correlated with the icon of the resource object.
Preferably, the access history icon consists of a time base and a mark representing each record of access which is disposed at the corresponding position on the time base.
The access history icon may be formed by determining whether each record of access to the resource object represents a reference to the resource object or modification of the resource object, and disposing a reference history mark and/or a modification history mark at each corresponding position on a time base.
The access-history indicating method may further include the step of executing, when one modification history mark in the access history icon is selected by a user, provision of a resource object entity corresponding to the selected modification history mark.
At least one of the steps (b) and (c) may be activated when a representation of a user""s interest enters an area for displaying the icon of one resource object displayed on the computer screen.
The user""s interest may be measured in accordance with the position of a displayed cursor movable on the computer screen by operating a mouse.
At least one of the steps (b) and (c) may be activated when the icon of the resource object is displayed on the computer screen.
The resource object may be a file in a predetermined format processible in a computer.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, the foregoing object is achieved through provision of an access-history indicating apparatus for indicating a history of access to a resource object on a computer screen. The access-history indicating apparatus includes (a) a means for sequentially recording the history of access to the resource object, (b) a means for generating an access history icon time-sequentially representing the history of access to the resource object, and (c) a means for displaying, on the computer screen, the generated history information so as to be correlated with the icon of the resource object.
Preferably, the access history icon consists of a time base and a mark representing each record of access which is disposed at the corresponding position on the time base.
The access history icon may be formed by determining whether each record of access to the resource object represents a reference to the resource object or modification of the resource object, and disposing a reference history mark and/or a modification history mark at each corresponding position on a time base.
The access-history indicating apparatus may further include a means for executing, when one modification history mark in the access history icon is selected by a user, provision of a resource object entity corresponding to the selected modification history mark.
At least one of the means (b) and (c) may be activated when a representation of a user""s interest enters an area for displaying the icon of one resource object displayed on the computer screen.
The user""s interest may be measured in accordance with the position of a displayed cursor movable on the computer screen by operating a mouse.
At least one of the means (b) and (c) may be activated when the icon of the resource object is displayed on the computer screen.
The resource object may be a file in a predetermined format processible in a computer.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the foregoing objects are achieved through provision of a resource providing method for providing a resource object including reference information for referring to another resource object. The resource providing method includes the steps of (a) sequentially recording a history of access to the resource object, (b) generating a command for displaying an access history icon time-sequentially representing the history of access to the resource object, and (c) adding the command generated in the step (b) to the reference information.
Preferably, the access history icon consists of a time base and a mark representing each record of access which is disposed at the corresponding position on the time base.
The access history icon may be formed by determining whether each record of access to the resource object represents a reference to the resource object or modification of the resource object, and disposing a reference history mark and/or a modification history mark at each corresponding position on a time base.
The command generated in the step (b) may prescribe that, when a user""s interest enters a piece of reference information on a computer screen displaying resource objects, an access history icon corresponding to a resource object to be referred to by the piece of reference information is displayed.
The command generated in the step (b) may prescribe that, when the reference information is displayed on a computer screen, an access history icon corresponding to a resource object to be referred to by the piece of reference information is displayed.
At least one of the steps (b) and (c) may be activated when provision of the resource object is requested.
Each of the resource objects may be a document file described in a markup description language, and the command generated in the step (b) may be a script described in a script language.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the foregoing objects are achieved through provision of a resource providing apparatus for providing a resource object including information for referring to another resource object. The resource providing apparatus includes a recording means for sequentially recording a history of access to the resource object, a generating means for generating a command for displaying an access history icon time-sequentially representing the history of access to the resource object, and an adding means for adding the command generated by the generating means to the reference information.
Preferably, the access history icon consists of a time base and a mark representing each record of access which is disposed at the corresponding position on the time base.
The access history icon may be formed by determining whether each record of access to the resource object represents a reference to the resource object or modification of the resource object, and disposing a reference history mark and/or a modification history mark at each corresponding position on a time base.
The command generated by the generating means may prescribe that, when a user""s interest enters a piece of reference information on a computer screen displaying resource objects, an access history icon corresponding to a resource object to be referred to by the piece of reference information is displayed.
The command generated by the generating means may prescribe that, when the reference information is displayed on a computer screen, an access history icon corresponding to a resource object to be referred to by the piece of reference information is displayed.
At least one of the generating means and the adding means may be activated when provision of the resource object is requested.
Each of the resource objects may be a document file described in a markup description language, and the command generated by the generating means may be a script described in a script language.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the foregoing objects are achieved through provision of a program providing medium for providing, in a material and computer-readable form, a computer program for controlling a computer to execute a process for indicating a history of access to a resource object on a computer screen. The computer program includes the steps of (a) sequentially recording the history of access to the resource object, (b) generating a command for displaying an access history icon time-sequentially representing the history of access to the resource object, and (c) displaying the generated access history icon on the computer screen so as to be correlated with the icon of the resource object.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the foregoing objects are achieved through provision of a program providing medium for providing, in a material and computer-readable form, a computer program for controlling a computer to execute a resource providing process for providing a resource object including reference information for referring to another resource object. The computer program includes the steps of (a) sequentially recording the history of access to the resource object, (b) generating a command for displaying an access history icon time-sequentially representing the history of access to the resource object, and (c) adding the command generated in the step (b) to the reference information.
According to the present invention, an access-state management technology can be provided in which the state of user""s access to each resource object can be easily and intuitively visually recognized on a desktop screen of a computer.
The above-described program providing media are, for example, media that provide, in a material and computer-readable form, a computer program to multi-purpose computer systems that can execute various types of program codes. The above-described program providing media are particularly not limited to specific forms. Removable and portable storage media such as compact disks, floppy disks, and magneto-optical disks, and transmission media such as networks (by radio or wire, or by terrestrial waves or satellite waves), may be used as the above-described program providing media.
In the above-described program providing media, the coordinated relationship in structure and function between the computer program and the providing medium for realizing computer-program functions is defined. In other words, by using each of the above-described program providing medium to install a predetermined computer program in a computer system, coordinated operations are performed in the computer system, whereby operations and advantages similar to those in the other aspects of the present invention can be obtained.
According to the present invention, an access-state management technology can be provided in which the state of access to each resource object by a user and the state of updating each resource object, which are set to be separate, are easily and intuitively visually recognized on the desktop screen of a computer.
According to the present invention, a user of a computer can obtain a visual and intuitive understanding about a change pattern of an access frequency during a predetermined period in the past, such as a history of reference to each resource object and a history of updating, whereby the change pattern can be used as an important key for selecting among files and WWW pages.
Further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.